The present application is related to co-pending patent application entitled System And Method For Electrically Coupling An Avionics Line Replaceable Unit With An Avionics Test Station filed on even date herewith by the same inventor and assigned to the same assignee. This application is incorporated herein in its entirety by this reference.
The present invention generally relates to aviation electronics or avionics, and more particularly relates to line replaceable units (LRUs) of avionics equipment which are mated to a rack and/or mounting tray in an aircraft, and even more particularly relates to a system and method for electrically and mechanically coupling such LRUs with other electronic equipment.
In the past, designers of avionics systems have endeavored to provide systems with improved reliability and improved serviceability. One crucial element in such systems has been the use of line replaceable units which can be quickly removed from the aircraft upon any failure or for routine maintenance. These line replaceable units may be replaced with a spare line replaceable unit or tested on a test station and repaired. These test stations are typically very versatile, being capable of testing various different types of avionics equipment. The versatility of these test stations arises out of the use of various test unit adapters (TUAs), which are tailored to electrically connect various avionics LRUs with the test station.
While these line replaceable units, test stations and TUAs have many advantages, they also have significant drawbacks.
First of all, these line replaceable units are usually blind mated with connectors in an avionics rack on the aircraft or with the TUAs. When these line replaceable units are mated with such connectors, the connectors typically provide both electrical and mechanical coupling. In fact, due to positional tolerance issues, the line replaceable units are held suspended only by these connectors. This required misalignment and subsequent suspension of line replaceable units results in undesirable stress and strain being placed upon the electrical connection contacts.
Secondly, when the line replaceable units are mated to a TUA in a test station (which have generally much larger tolerances than airborne avionics equipment) the amount of uncertainty of alignment increases, thereby increasing the likelihood of pin damage resulting from improper alignment upon mating.
Consequently, there exists a need for improvement in avionics systems and methods for coupling LRUs to such systems.
It is an object of the present invention to provide enhanced reliability for avionics LRUs.
It is a feature of the present invention to utilize an LRU with a floatable connector interface.
It is an advantage of the present invention to allow the LRU to be mated without a suspended alignment approach to the connector.
It is another advantage of the present invention to decrease the potential for pin damage upon insertion.
The present invention is an apparatus and method for mating avionics LRUs with other electronic equipment, which is designed to satisfy the aforementioned needs, provide the previously stated objects, include the above-listed features and achieve the already articulated advantages. The present invention is carried out with a xe2x80x9csuspension-less LRUxe2x80x9d in a sense that the amount of mechanical suspension by the connector has been greatly reduced.
Accordingly, the present invention is a system and method for mating avionics LRUs with other electronic equipment where the system includes a floatable electrical connector, and the method includes placing the LRU on a rest, sliding it into position without raising the LRU above the rest.